Bulletproof
by Wolfstar000
Summary: Cary's...different. He hasn't always been, but ever since *that* summer, that summer when the alien was released in Lillian, he can feel it. It courses through his blood and pounds in his chest. There's only one word he can think of to describe it. Power. (previously titled Now He's Different)
1. Intro

Power.

Cary can feel it, he always feels it, pulsing through his blood and pounding in his chest. He's not quite sure when he started feeling it, but he knows it was sometime around last summer, last summer when the alien was let loose in Lillian and Cary and his friends were the ones to send it home. Maybe it was when the wall in the house they were taking shelter in exploded. Maybe it was when the water tower exploded. Maybe it was when the train exploded.

Everyone has a different opinion.

Martin likes to think it was the same explosion that made him break his ankle that gave Cary his unnatural abilities.

Joe says it might've been the explosives bursting into flame at the train crash that did it.

Preston, trying to think logically as usual, thinks that it was caused by being under the water tower and ultimately being so close to the alien's shape shifting cubes that might've radiated their power into him.

Alice says that maybe it was being so close to two people who had been touched by the alien.

Charles says nothing more than maybe Cary was born a freak, and all the excitement from that summer his powers show themselves.

And Cary? He honestly doesn't think about it much, the only thing he can think of is the rush of energy that he gets whenever his powers take over. Because he doesn't really know how to control them, and sometimes they act up at the most inconvenient of times. Like when they were doing a fireworks display one night high up on the hill overlooking the train station, and Cary made the fireworks explode without even touching them. Or the time they went to eat at the diner, and Charles made Cary so mad that every window in the building shattered into pieces.

Both times Cary was blamed by the adults, and both times they couldn't find any evidence that it was him. But he knew, and the others knew, that it was him, no matter how hard he tried to stop it. Because Cary was different, perhaps too different for a small town like Lillian, even a small town that had witnessed an alien attack just the summer before. And it was obvious that somehow his secret would get out somehow - and get out it did.

* * *

A/N: So, I know that was reeeaallyy short, but, you know, it's and introduction. What are you gonna do? By the way. It's not a love story, just a sci-fi adventure story. Just giving ya a heads up. It's about Cary, and he's got those powers like in the Titanium music video. You should probably watch the music video first. Also, I know other people have done things like this, but they always stop before really getting into it or they don't put as much detail or plot line into it as I would like. So I'm doing my own version. I'm not trying to copy off of anybody else's stories, don't worry. I'm sorry if my writing appears similar to anybody else's. Takes place a year after the events of Super 8. That's all. Enjoy!

-wolfstar


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Here's the next chapter! Thank you to the Guest who was my first reviewer. :)

* * *

It was just Cary's luck that it happened. He should have expected it, really. His powers had been getting stronger and stronger recently, and the others had been getting worried. It got to the point where Cary himself even began to worry, and didn't turn away when the others tried to talk to him. He let them question him, and tried to tell them what he was thinking, but it just wasn't working. He couldn't make them understand, he couldn't get them to understand. It seemed as if his every word blew right over their heads, and they would nod and pretend to get it when really they had no clue what he was talking about.

Not that they would have a clue what he was talking about. He shouldn't even have tried, because they couldn't feel it. They weren't able to understand, because they couldn't feel the powers the way he could. They only felt the way the air dropped several degrees when Cary exhaled, the shock that coursed through the ground when Cary ran. Everyone else could feel that too, though, and Cary feared that sooner rather than later they would realize it was him causing it.

'Sooner' was actually a lot sooner than he thought it would be.

It was a Wednesday, and the weather seemed to be reflecting Cary's mood. Whether it was something to do with his powers or just coincidental, Cary didn't know. But the sky was dreary and blanketed with gray clouds, and the air was damp and hot. Like the calm before a storm.

If Cary had only known how bad that storm would be, he probably would've locked himself in the basement instead of going to school that day.

But there he was, at school, in Ms. Mullen's 4th period English class, sitting at the second desk from the left, third row back from the front. He was twirling his pencil in his fingers, oblivious in his depression to the cool breeze that was billowing out around him because of it. His day so far had been the worst in a long time.

1st period, he had gotten a math test back to discover that he had gotten a D- on it, and in his frustration he had somehow set Mr. Logan's thick grade book on fire. Mr. Logan and every other human being in the room had given Cary a hard stare, and then Mr. Logan had decided that since the book had been sitting on the windowsill (four feet away from Cary) the heat from the sun had done it. But the suspicious looks from Mr. Logan continued for the rest of the period.

2nd period was gym, and they were playing volleyball. God, how Cary hated volleyball. Maybe that had something to do with why every single volleyball in the cart that Coach Karl pulled out was flat. And why all the volleyball nets got tangled up together when Coach Karl opened the window. Since Cary had just been complaining about volleyball, Coach Karl blamed him, but since there was no logical explanation to how he could have done it, he had to let it go. But Cary knew that the old man still suspected him.

3rd period was science, and they were dissecting frogs. Cary's lab partner was some annoying girl who squealed in disgust whenever anyone touched a dead frog. Somehow, the half dissected frog 'jumped' off of the tray and smacked the girl across the face, smearing frog guts all over her cheek. The girl immediately yelled at the teacher that Cary had thrown the frog at her, but since Cary had been halfway across the room at the sink when it happened, Mrs. Simons scolded the girl for being ridiculous and told her that "attention seeking behavior is pathetic".

That last one would have normally made Cary laugh, but he was so stressed out that he couldn't enjoy it.

And so he sat, twirling his pencil in his fingers, oblivious in his depression to the cool breeze that was billowing out around him because of it. Alice, who was sitting across the room from him, glanced at him nervously as her long blond hair whipped in her face.

"Somebody close the window." Ms. Mullen droned, not looking up from her romance novel.

"Ms. Mullen." Blair Kristopher raised her hand. "There's no window open."

"Then turn off the fan." Ms. Mullen's voice was monotone.

"There's no fan either, Ms. Mullen." Blair leaned forward urgently. "It's Cary. He's doing it."

At the mention of his name, Cary snapped his head up. He dropped the pencil, and the breeze halted abruptly. He looked around nervously and felt all eyes on him.

"How'd you do that, Cary?" Blair questioned. "How'd you make that breeze?"

Cary shook his head slightly. "I...I didn't." His voice was small, which was a rarity, and there was a hint of fear in his eyes. He looked like a small animal that had been cornered in a small room with no way out.

"Yes, you did." Blair argued. "You were spinning that pencil in your hand and it was making a wind."

"It was not!" Cary defended himself weakly. "Go screw yourself, Blair."

"Ms. Mullen!" Blair squealed. "Cary told me to screw myself!"

Ms. Mullen yawned. "Detention, Cary."

Cary fought the urge to roll his eyes. That would be his 5th detention that week. Not that he cared. He practically lived in detention these days. "Don't any of you have voices?" He sneered at his classmates. "You're all letting Bitchy Blair speak for you."

"Ms. Mullen!" Blair squealed again. "Cary called me Bitchy Blair!"

"Detention, Cary." Ms. Mullen repeated.

Blair smirked at Cary. "Another detention for the freak."

"He's not a freak." Alice spoke up from the back of the group that crowded around Cary. "Don't call him that."

Cary shot Alice a look that plainly said, _Don't speak for me!_

Alice smiled apologetically. _Sorry_, she mouthed.

Blair gave Alice the middle finger, but Alice didn't do anything. Cary, however, narrowed his eyes. "Don't flip her off, bitch."

"Excuse me?" Blair tossed her long black curls. "She's the bitch. Trying to stand up for the idiotic midget that she's obviously madly in love with, when she's dating that queer Joe."

Cary jumped up from his seat and glared up at Blair. "Say one more word." He growled. "I dare you."

Blair sneered at him. "Gay, good-for-nothing, cock-sucking fa-"

Cary raised his hand and a pair of scissors rose up from a basket on Ms. Mullen's desk. Several more pairs followed, and they all opened up. They flipped in midair so the blades were aimed right at Blair, and then Cary jerked his hand towards her. All the scissors flew at jet speed towards Blair's face. Blair screamed and ducked, but she wasn't quick enough. One of the scissors caught her on the shoulder and it's blade drove deep into her skin. She instantly began sobbing, clutching at her arm.

"Blair!" Several people began screaming in terror and surrounded Blair, who sank to her knees on the floor and cried.

Cary, his eyes wide, made a dash for the door just as the bell rang. He threw the door open and tore into the hall, immediately losing himself among all the other students. He barreled as fast as he could down the hall, trying to get away from Alice's yelling of, "Cary! Cary, wait!" He turned the corner and hurdled straight into another person - Joe.

Cary tumbled to the floor and pulled Joe down with him, landing underneath him. As soon as he looked up at Joe's face, he began panicking.

"Joe! I didn't mean to, please don't hate me! It just happened! She was calling me a freak, and then she was calling Alice a bitch, and then she was calling you a queer, and it just-it-it just happened, Joe, I'm sorry!"

Joe stood up and then pulled Cary up, his eyes full of worry. "Woah, slow down, Cary, what happened?"

"Blair Kristopher, she-she was bitching about you guys, an-and then she c-called me a gay, good for nothing, cock sucking fag, and then-then it just happened, Joe!"

"Cary." Joe grabbed Cary by the shoulders. "_What_ happened?"

Cary didn't get a chance to answer, for at that second a large group of people closed in around the two. At the head of them was Sam Boulevard, Blair's boyfriend. Blair herself was hobbling along a few feet behind him, her shoulder bleeding heavily as she leaned against a friend.

"Oh god, Cary." Joe breathed. "What did you do?"

Sam cracked his knuckles. "Hey queer! Who do you think you are, throwing scissors at my girlfriend?!"

"He didn't throw them!" Someone called out. "He raised his hand and they just rose up into the air!"

Cary's breath hitched. This was it, it was happening, his secret was out. Everyone knew, and they would think he was a freak. Oh, who was he kidding? He _was_ a freak. They were going to lock him up in a mental hospital and do tests on him to figure out why he had powers. His whole life was going to change, starting with this moment.

Sam narrowed his eyes. "Get him." He commanded, and several large, muscled boys stepped forward and yanked Cary away from Joe. They lifted him up and slammed his back against a locker. Sam stepped forward and slapped Cary across the face, and Cary heard Joe yell.

His vision spun as the slaps continued, soon joined with kicks and punches to every part of Cary's body. He could hear people yelling, most of them in encouragement. It seemed like the whole school was crowded in that one hallway, cheering as Cary was beat mercilessly.

There were five voices that stood out to Cary above all the others, voices screaming for Sam to stop. Joe, Alice, Charles, Martin, and Preston were being pushed back by the crowd and were unable to do anything but watch as their pyromaniac friend was beat.

Cary fought back, but weakly. He was no match for the older, bigger, and stronger people.

The people holding Cary up threw him to the ground, where Sam slammed his boot into Cary's chest. And again. And again and again and again. Cary groaned and coughed up a spatter of blood.

Sam sneered. "How do you feel now, faggot?"

And with that, Cary couldn't take it anymore. He curled up with his back to the ceiling and his hands folded over his head protectively. And then he felt it, greater than he'd ever felt it before. His powers, pulsing through his blood and pounding in his chest. He felt it developing, growing, expanding. The sheer immensity of it all drowned out the cheering of his classmates, the screaming of his friends.

And then, in that moment, it exploded.


	3. Chapter 2

Cary groaned feebly and uncurled himself so he was laying on his back. His whole body ached and he tasted blood in his mouth. Sinking into a horrible coughing fit, he spat out a wad of blood onto the floor where it mixed in with blood that had already gathered there. After a few minutes he stumbled to his feet.

He looked around and his eyes widened. Had he really done that?

The entire hallway was ravaged. Book bags were torn apart, pens and pencils and notebooks littering the floor. Most of the lockers' doors were hanging on one hinge, some of them completely blown off. Wherever there was a space on the floor that wasn't covered in litter, there was a person laying on the floor. Many bodies were overlapping, and every single one of them was unmoving.

Taking a deep, stuttering breath, Cary leaned against the wall. He didn't want to think that he had...killed anybody. His left hand flew to his pocket, checking to see if his lucky silver lighter was there. It was. Cary yanked it out of his pocket and stared at it before angrily chucking it down the hall. So much for luck.

The lighter hit the wall and bounced down, landing with a dull thump on a body. Whoever it was made a small noise and began to stir. Cary took a shaky step towards them, glad to know there was at least one survivor of his rampage. As he got closer he saw the flash of long blond hair.

Alice.

Cary tripped over several bodies to make his way to his friend. When he reached her he collapsed on the ground next to her, looking down at her face.

"Alice." He pleaded. "Alice, please be alive. I swear, if I killed you...I...I..." His voice broke and his eyes watered.

And then Alice blinked. Blue eyes were staring into blue eyes, and then Alice pushed herself up by the elbows and enveloped Cary in a hug. Cary, shocked, didn't hug back. He let Alice squeeze him tightly before sitting back.

"Are you hurt?" He asked quickly.

Alice checked herself over, then shook her head. "No. I'm fine." She reached down and picked up the lighter. "You dropped this?"

Cary shook his head. "I threw it. I don't want it."

Suddenly the lighter was being pressed into his palm. "Keep it. It's always been your lucky lighter, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, and look where it got me. I blew up the school, Alice. Everyone knows I'm a freak."

"You're not a freak, Cary!" Alice protested. "You've got amazing abilities. You just need to learn to control them."

"Fat chance of that happening." Cary scoffed. "I'm a walking disaster."

Alice didn't answer, just looked around. "Joe." She crawled over to her boyfriend, who was laying pushed against the wall. She shook his shoulder lightly, whispering in his ear. "Joe? Joe, please, wake up."

While Alice was working with Joe, Cary turned away and found Martin laying under one of Blair's friends. Disgustedly pushing the latter aside, he yelled in the former's face, "HEY SMARTIN! WAKE UP!"

Martin squinted his eyes open. "Cary?" Then he sat bolt upright. "Cary! You're not dead!" His eyes were wide. "Shit, Cary, I thought you died!"

"I'm fine, Smartin."

"No you're not! Cary you're bleeding!"

Cary looked down at himself, shocked. He hadn't actually realized he was bleeding. But, there it was, a big, dark red splotch in the side of his shirt.

"It doesn't hurt." He said. He wasn't lying. It really didn't hurt. He shook it off and went to find Preston and Charles.

Preston was found on his stomach down the hall, and he was quickly woken up with a slap to the face. Charles was laying in the middle of a pile of Cary's tormentors. He was brought back to consciousness by a kick to the gut.

Then the six of them were standing around the hall, looking at the damage Cary had caused.

"Sorry." Cary kept his gaze on the floor, not meeting anybody's eyes.

"Don't be sorry, Cary." Joe said softly. His hand was intertwined with Alice's. "It wasn't you're fault."

"Yeah." Alice backed him up. "Blair was being a bitch."

Charles laughed. "Blair Kristopher? That's what this is about? Blair Kristopher made you blow up the school?"

"Shut up, pussy." Cary sneered. "She was bitching about how Joe was a queer and Alice was a bitch and I was a disgusting, good for nothing, cock sucking fag, and then I made the scissors on Ms. Mullen's desk fly over and hit her in the shoulder." He frowned. "I was aiming for her face."

"So how did you blow up the school?" Preston asked. "Blair just made you control scissors, not an atomic bomb."

Cary shrugged. "I dunno. Sam Boulevard got mad at me for screwing with his girlfriend, and decided he and his friends were gonna beat me up. I was just trying to defend myself."

Martin looked around, and then turned and promptly threw up in a ravaged doorless locker. "Shit, Cary." He groaned. "I think you defended yourself a little too well." He pointed with a shaky finger to a body on the ground. The body was laying in a pool of blood, it's clothes soaked dark red. Cary took a few steps towards it and saw the long black curls.

It was Blair Kristopher.

And she wasn't breathing.

"God, Cary." Joe said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I think you killed her."


	4. Chapter 3 Part 1

A/N: This is only the first half of Chapter 3, just because it's been a while since I updated and I figured I better get something out there. It'd be helpful if someone other than the Guest who commented on the prologue would let me know what they think of this so far. Oh, btw, you may have noticed that the title of this book has been changed. It used to be "Now He's Different", but I just changed it to "Bulletproof" because I think it fits better. Idk lol I just think "Bulletproof" has a nicer ring to it. I was gonna just do "Titanium", but I feel like that's too cliche. Anyways, enjoy!

-wolfstar

* * *

Cary's stomach twisted sickeningly as he stared at Blair's motionless body. His friends stood silent as he slowly moved towards her, rolling her over onto her back. Her skin was cold and paler than usual, her gray eyes glazed over. A trickle of dark blood ran from the corner of her mouth down her cheek. Cary, his eyes wide, leaned his head down and put his ear by her nose. Nothing. He grabbed her wrist, feeling for a pulse. Nothing.

"G-guys." He leaned back and quickly scooted away from her body. "She's dead. I-I killed her. I freakin' killed her!" He hated the sight of Blair's dead body, but he couldn't look away. He sat there, his eyes trained on her, breathing heavily. "What do I do? Oh, god, what do I do?"

He felt a hand on his shoulder and whipped his head around to see Joe. Joe's calming gaze locked with his, and Cary forced himself to stop panicking. Joe said firmly, "Cary. Calm down. It's gonna be alright."

"No, it's not!" Martin screamed in the background. "Blair's dead and its Cary's fault and Cary's gonna get arrested and sent to some mental facility and they're gonna do science experiments on him and oh god Cary you're gonna die!"

Alice shot Martin a glare. "Martin, stop it. You're making things worse."

"He's right." Charles pitched in. "Cary's gonna have the military after him."

Preston took a step towards Blair. "Are we sure she's dead? She could be in shock, or-"

"She's dead." Cary insisted. He scrambled to his feet and began backing away, drawing his lucky silver lighter from his pocket. He held it tightly, and was briefly reminded of how Joe used to hold his mother's locket when he was scared or stressed. "She's dead, and I'm gonna be just like her soon."

"Cary, they're not going to kill you." Joe soothed.

"Yes, they freakin' are, Joe!" Cary yelled. "I'm a freak and they're going to kill me!" Suddenly there was a pound of footsteps. They were soon joined by wailing sirens. Cary began panicking. "Great. The police are here."

He wasn't right, but he wasn't entirely wrong. It was worse than the police. A whole SWAT team was making their way through the building, on their way to the kids.

Cary spun around and spotted a whole in the wall of the school – they were on the second floor, so it would be quite a drop, but Cary had to risk it. He looked at his friends quickly. "Bye, guys."

"Bye?" Alice stepped towards him. "What do you mean?"

Cary pointed to the whole. "I have to go. I'm not going to let them catch me."

Joe's eyes widened. "Cary, no. We'll work it out. You'll say it was an accident."

"Do you really think that'll work?" Cary questioned. "Blair's dead. Even if the military don't kill me, Sam Boulevard will. You guys don't understand, I get it. But I'm dangerous, and someone else is gonna get hurt if I stick around. I have to go."

Charles and Preston exchanged nervous glances. Martin threw up on a few unconscious bodies.

Cary couldn't wait any longer – the military were nearing by the second. Taking a few deep breaths, he nodded shakily at his friends and ran for the gap in the crumbling wall. Just as he heard a, "Hey, stop!" from an armed man, Cary flung himself out of the school.


End file.
